


Mirrored

by Owlship



Series: Lifelines (Soulmate Fics) [1]
Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Past Max/Jessie Rockatansky, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-04 19:30:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4150047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owlship/pseuds/Owlship
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Most people are born with their Words emblazoned somewhere on their skin. From their very first day they have undeniable proof that somewhere in the world is a person who complements them in every way, just waiting for them to meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mirrored

**Author's Note:**

> I did not intend to write this, but here it is anyway. Pure shameless fluff because I'm a sucker for soulmate fics.
> 
> Edited 7/29/15, just some minor changes that were bugging me.

Most people are born with their Words emblazoned somewhere on their skin. From their very first day they have undeniable proof that somewhere in the world is a person who complements them in every way, just waiting for them to meet.

Which isn't to say it's unusual for someone to be born with unmarked skin. Their soulmate may not be born yet, or the universe might not be certain of them meeting- or of them being the right people when they _do_ meet- and instead delays putting down any Words until it's assured that their souls will align.

Some people never gain Words at all and spend their whole lives Blank, though this is very uncommon. There are those who say this allows for people to choose their own destiny, some who say it's proof of a lack of soul, still others claim it to be the sure sign of an untimely death.

Rarest of all are those who have two or even three sets of Words, a gift from the universe to ensure such people are never unloved.

 

Most days, Furiosa forgets that she has a soulmate out in the world. She lived most of her life without any Words marking her skin, and when they did finally appear Joe had her arm cut off for the offense after less than a day. He only breeds with Blank women, a match to his own unmarked skin. One less reason for them to try and resist, if there's no soulmate waiting for them. And now, after she's clawed her way to the top of the heap out of sheer desperation to survive, finding a match is one of the last things on her mind.

It's nothing she's thinking of when a crazed blood-bag demands water, threatens the women she's smuggling away from the Citadel. She doesn't think anything of the way he flinches when she catches up with the stalled-out War Rig and tells him about the kill switches because she's too busy bargaining for all of their lives.

Her mind remains clear of all but tactics as they fall into sync fighting for all of their lives. Guns are traded back and forth without a second thought, the engines tended to by two sets of experienced hands, traps laid and ambushes carried out without a single word of planning to smooth the way. It's the type of rapport she's used to from her crew and it should give her pause to have found the same in a man who won't tell her his name, but that very same easiness is what allows her to focus on more important matters.

 

It's only when the night presses down on them with a merciful lack of violence that the subject of Words is raised. Of the current set of wives only Capable and Dag have Words, carefully hidden from Joe's sight lest they suffer the same fate as Furiosa. Dag's lay beneath her hair, only visible when she was a bald infant. The War Boys who captured her never thought to check such an odd location, and while she confided the location she has never shared what the Words actually say.

Capable's Words appeared on the same night she was given to Joe, a small line of script tucked into the delicate arch of her foot. She had already been declared Blank, and it was easy to keep up the illusion with nothing more than ever-present foot coverings.

“You need to scrub off that paint,” Capable is saying to the War Boy she's befriended now that he's been tentatively accepted into the cab. “I need to know what your Words are.”

“You think they're _his_?” Toast asks incredulously, not bothering to hide her distaste at the notion.

“I won't,” Nux replies, “Words make you weak. They hold you back.”

“Hold you back from what, suicide? Having something to live for is a good thing!”

“It's rude,” Furiosa interjects from the driver's seat of the rig, “to ask to see someone's Words without offering yours first.”

“I'll show you mine if you show me yours,” Capable immediately tells the War Boy. He doesn't seem fond of this idea either and squirms in his seat unhappily. But the redhead is already prying off her right boot, lifting her foot to show the boy the words inked across the thin skin there.

“'By his hands we'll be lifted up',” he reads reluctantly, no recognition in his voice.

“You said it to me before we threw you out of the rig,” Capable explains.

“But- I don't even have Words,” Nux says with a lost expression. “I've been Blank my entire life.”

“They only showed up when I was taken to be Joe's wife, not very long ago really. If you're always covered in paint how would you know if any appeared?”

It's hard not to get caught up in the little drama unfolding, but Furiosa refuses to even entertain the idea of calling a stop just so they can scrub down the War Boy and hunt for Words on his skin.

“They burn when they show up,” Furiosa reminds them, “Even if you didn't see them you'd have felt it.”

Nux is holding out his arms contemplatively now, prodding at the scarred flesh of his chest as he considers the idea. Finally his hands make their way to his back, fingers idly rubbing the skin over his shoulder blade.

“Slit said it was sunburn, that I wasn't wearing enough paint even though I'd never burned before.”

Capable's face lights up as his own dawns with understanding. “Do you think he saw, and was trying to get me to usemore paint to cover my Words so no one else would know?”

“There's only one way to find out,” Capable says and wets the corner of a rag with water from one of their canteens, urging him to turn around. The thick war-paint is stubborn at first but soon even Furiosa can see the dark shadow of Words from the rear-view mirror.

“'He's a lying old man',” she says with reverence when they're clear, tracing the letters with a gentle finger. “Definitely my words.”

Nux has turned back to face her and he looks poleaxed, eyes wide as they search her face. Cheedo seems ecstatic to watch this unfold, while Toast scoffs and the Dag just watches with her usual unphazed expression.

Furiosa lifts her eyes from the darkened ground before the Rig to gauge the Fool's reaction, wondering what his opinion is on the absurdity of meeting your soulmate only after throwing them out a moving rig. He's staring straight ahead into the marsh, body drawn tight into itself, hand rubbing in small circles over his knee in a way that she thinks has nothing to do with the brace he wears. She flicks her eyes away from the sight, granting what privacy she can.

For the first time in many, many days she thinks about her own Word, the one that cost her an arm. It was just a single word written in stark capitals across her skin, but it was enough to enrage the Immortan into not just discarding her as a wife but crippling her for good measure. She wonders if her match would believe her, should she ever meet them, now that she doesn't have any proof to show. Perhaps they're already dead and gone- a shouted plea for water is hardly unusual to hear out on the sands, and with no trace of her Word left on living skin she would never know if it began to burn and scar.

“What about you?” Cheedo asks innocently, peering at Furiosa's face from her seat. “I know Toast and I still don't have Words, and Dag won't share hers, but do you?”

She takes a deep breath to consider how to respond. Only Angharad had known about her arm, her time as a wife. But Cheedo was still so young and eager to believe in love stories; she clearly doesn't mean anything by her question.

“It was on my left arm,” Furiosa says and raises her prosthetic hand to emphasize her next point. “When it came in and Joe saw it, he had my arm amputated. Didn't want to see another person marking his 'property'.” There; it wasn't as hard to get the words out as she had been afraid it would be.

“But what did it _say_?”

“'Water'. The only thing it said was 'Water'.”

Besides her the Fool sucks in a ragged breath, drawing attention to himself for the first time since they last switched seats. He senses eyes on him and stills like an animal caught in headlights, hand splayed across his knee protectively.

“Do you have Words?” Cheedo asks him next, heedless of the shifting atmosphere in the cab. The man grunts and turns to look out the side window, a clear signal that he didn't wish to engage.

“I bet he had a soulmate,” she continues to say to the cab in general, unperturbed by his reaction. “He seems the type.”

“Be quiet,” Toast admonishes, picking up on his discomfort. “He obviously doesn't want to talk about it.”

Furiosa admits to being somewhat curious about his reaction herself, but she doesn't want the man alienated when there's still so much uncertainty ahead. Cheedo seems to accept the rebuke and easily starts back up on teasing Capable and Nux, lost in their own little world as only those newly-matched can be.

 

It's not until much later, when she's bleeding out in the back of Joe's rig after days of fighting together that she gets her idle curiosity satisfied. There's a tube connecting her veins to the Fool's and in light of such an intimacy it seems only natural for him to make a confession of not just his name, but his Words.

“They're yours,” he says in the same soft tone he'd been using to keep her awake, “My Words- they're yours. Jessie's Words burned away when she died and I thought I was done caring. Scared me to see new ones, don't want to forget her.”

He pauses, and it's hard to focus on anything but she thinks she might see unshed tears in his eyes. “But I can't lose you too. 'm not strong enough.”

He moves his hands away from her face to push aside his jacket and ruck up his shirt, exposing a patch of his skin that's dark with writing. Furiosa's eyesight is too blurry to make sense of the jagged lines, but that's alright because he's reading it aloud for her a moment later.

“'Kill switches; I set the sequence myself'. Your Words. Should have said so earlier but-” He breaks off with a shake of his head, apparently overwhelmed. She wants to let him know that it's okay but she has no energy, instead settles for mustering up a smile.

“Fool,” Furiosa manages to whisper affectionately, keeping her eyes open long enough to see him give an answering smile of his own. 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Mapped](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4466909) by [Owlship](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owlship/pseuds/Owlship)




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